The Foundation of Arroyo
by Ketojan
Summary: After being Banished from Vault 13, Sylar honestly believed that his life had come to an end. He was only part right. A new life has begun for the young Vault Dweller as he is now faced with the task of leading a community full of his fellow vault exiles and helping them survive in the Wasteland. How far will Sylar go to keep his disciples safe? How far are they willing to let him?
1. 1: The Exile

_**A:N/**_

 _ **I've been replaying Fallout 1/2 this week and I've had quite a bit of fun with them. I decided that I wanted to write a more personalised version of the Vault Dweller's Memoirs, a first person account of my Vault Dweller, after being banished from Vault 13.**_

 _ **Obviously this comes from his perspective, several accounts from other people's perspectives are included, whenever the Vault Dweller isn't present based on their reports. Obviously. :P**_

 _ **This is the first time that I've tried to write in first person, at least for the length of a story. I'm not sure if it's because I don't write long pieces as much as I used to, if it's because I'm not used to first person or if it's just been this week (I've had a big bereavement in my family, so it's been a long, exhausting week) but either way, this may not be as descriptive as normal. I've worked hard on it though, don't mistake that for me slacking off. :P**_

 _ **Enjoy! o/**_

* * *

The great thing about getting old is that you always get your way...

That's the great thing about it but it's also a curse, because we, as human beings don't always think things through.

I didn't at least, not in my youth. How's a sixteen year old supposed to think of half of the risks that are out there? I'm not talking lizards, bugs and raiders. Nah, those are obvious threats but what about the water merchants who offer to deliver to your door? What about the constantly threatened community, who have run ins with raiders?

Sometimes it's not the malicious who can get you killed, sometimes it just takes a well meaning heart but a not very street smart brain or hell, sometimes a scared tongue can be deadlier than an army.

I learned that the hard way, it cost me my home, my entire life even. The things that I did for my Vault haunt me to this day. Anything to keep myself going. Theft, murder, betrayal... I was in a nightmare, one that I could see the end of. Living with myself was my punishment but the fates decided that that wasn't enough.

I was sent out a second time, where I helped destroy a mutant threat, which even endangered us Vault Dwellers. A twisted nightmare, the Master, awaited me inside. I walked down his corridor of flesh, gripping tightly onto the biggest gun that I could find. Even so it trembled in my hands...

I still feel it, the flesh, wriggling around like vines on the walls. I still feel him pulsing inside my head.

The stench of raw, decaying flesh... Jesus... I was barely a man when I was exposed to it as well, seventeen years old and I walked through hell.

My time out there had changed me, the overseer saw that. He saw the blood on my hands and he refused me entry.

"You're a hero and you have to leave..."

I proved him wrong...

I drew my gun, desert eagle, high calibur. I emptied it into him, blew one of his arms off and sent him down to the ground. The old bastard crawled around for a bit before expiring, face down in a pool of his own blood.

I walked off, into the desert, shuffling my way through the sands. I had no friends, no family, no... life anymore.

All that was waiting for me out here, in this... baron wasteland was death...

I knelt down in a cave, drawing my Deagle, pointing it at my head. My hand didn't tremble, not even the slightest...

My time was up, there was nothing for me...

And that's when I heard it, the screams. Far away...

Yet close by...

I had one bullet in that gun and I'm really not sure why but I decided that I'd use it to save a life, instead of ending my own but it turned out to be a pretty smart decision. I walked out and saw a young man in a Vault Suit, lay on the ground, in front of a Radscorpion the size of a bear. I slowly raised my arm, barely even fazed by the creature as I put a bullet in the insect's head, the shot rang out across the mountain and attracted the man's friends to me and upon seeing me they froze.

They were all Vault 13 Dwellers, I recognised a few of them as Colleagues, Rick and Darren were among them, people I worked with, childhood friends. All of them were staring at me, unable to move. At first, I thought that they were afraid of me but I quickly saw that they were actually in awe.

I was like a God to those people...

They were especially appreciative when I told them that the Radscorpion's victim needed curing. I gave them a bottle of the antidote, since I'd amassed a few of them on my travels. I'd recently toughed the poisons out and sold the antidotes further down the line. It'd served me well...

I had assumed that they were scouts or scavengers, trying to find information or supplies from the outside world but they weren't. They were disciples, looking for a leader to follow. They detested the decision to send me out into the desert and so, I was forced to take them in and guide them.

We found a spot to call our own. It was... miles to the north. It was like I'd walked the whore of California again. I probably did...

We managed to pitch up a few tents, provided by Vault Tec and were able to found a small settlement on the edge of a gulch. I called it 'Arroyo,' it's the spanish word for... well 'Gulch' or 'Creek.' I never claimed to be creative or smart, if I had, I'd deserve this but as it happens I am neither.

I never understood why I was picked by the overseer. Smarter people signed up, though they weren't as tough. Tougher people signed up but they weren't as smart. I assume that was it. I averaged out, I was tough and not completely brainless, so they figured I'd have the best chance. I wondered, for a time, why we didn't all go. Though groups tend to move slower than lone wanderers and maybe, if the Overseer had been planning this from the start, maybe he didn't like the idea of banishing six people at once.

I guess that backfired, now twenty people are in my care. They've chosen to take on the wastes, half a vault walked out, because of me. I'd be humbled, honoured... but in all honesty, I'm scared shitless. These people won't stay this loyal forever, they'll blame me soon as people get hurt or die or they have to go without food.

That first month, founding the settlement felt like a year. This past year has felt like a decade... I remember who I used to be, a confused boy, I remember who I became and what became of him... Now I'm... Me, I guess. Whatever that actually means at this point...

With my village set up, it wasn't long before the first of the hordes of problems came staggering to my door. I felt like Duane Jones in that film, with the army of zombies attacking the manor house, where he was staying? Who knew that I'd actually have to live that shit some day...

Anyway, I was sat there, waiting for a bunch of hungry, tired, dirty people who had never gone a day without anything before to start going for each-other's throats and on the horizon came famine, pestilence, war and death. The four horsemen of the apocalypse seemed to have a job for life, now that the world has ended, there's plenty of all four to be found.

It started not long after I awoke, one month after setting up. We had crops and we had the means to collect water from the gulch. Though I figured that we'd need a well. In order to make one, we'd need to dig a little and make a foundation that won't make the water all muddy and shitty.

That was job one, sounds simple enough, though we realised that we didn't have any shovels. This, again, brought me onto my next biggest problem.

Weapons...

We had them, sure but we relied heavily on ammunition.

Radscorpions, rats, molerats...

These things could be killed with spears, blades, hammers... We should save the ammunition for the bigger threats, like Deathclaws, Raiders and Supermutants.

We needed some weapons and we needed to teach people how to use them and... then we needed medicine. We had first aid kits and medication but we also needed to learn how to make our own. A while back, whilst on my travels, I stumbled across this stuff called 'healing powder.' If I could learn how to make that, it would almost be like making our own stimpaks, which considering nobody knows how to do that around these parts, healing powder may just be the next best thing...

We needed to establish trade routes, we needed to be able to trade for things that we want. It occurred to me that we could raid caravans to survive but... nobody who does that lasts forever. I didn't want this community to survive out here, I wanted us to live, in seclusion. I wanted to spare them the harshness of the real world and the many villains that it contained.

I decided that I would avoid contacting anyone to the south. Anyone I'd met before all of this...

I couldn't trust them.

There were a few, like Aradesh and Tandi, hell... looking back on it, I could've trusted them but you had to understand that a man that I knew my whole life had just tried to kill me. I wasn't in a trusting mindset and as far as I'm concerned, it worked out for the best.

I took a team of four, five including myself and we headed east. I took a security guard, not much older than me, only a year or two. I'd like to pretend that he was my friend but in truth, I barely spoke to the guy. I didn't have any friends in the vault before or after and anyone who did resemble a friend in any way didn't seem to follow me. I suppose they were afraid that I had changed...

The guard had fiery orange hair, he wore his security outfit, black bullet resistant vest and a helmet with a clear visor on it.

Rick was his name and he was always level headed and was really into his job, back at the vault. Of course, we weren't in the vault anymore.

Then there was a doctor, blonde woman, mid thirties. She was quite a social person, not really the type you'd imagine wanting to come out here, incredibly civilized and a great people person. She also stunning in the intellect department and she wasn't too bad on the eyes either. Her name was Doctor Kraus but she insisted that we called her 'Alison.'

Alison wanted to see what kind of flora she could find along the road, she'd take them back and experiment on them to see if she could work on those stimpak substitutes that we so desperately needed.

Then there was Ray, Ray was... like me I guess, average. He was somewhat a jack of all trades, only difference was that Ray was **really** into cars, engines... anything like that. He memorized a sport racing annual that we had in our library inside and out and I'd be lying if I said that his knowledge of how engines worked didn't sound helpful. If he could rig us up a generator of some kind, using what he knew? That would solve a lot of our problems, especially in the winter.

Finally there was Joe... Joe was tough as nails and incredibly strong. He spent his days building and his nights drinking himself into a stuper. It honestly baffled me how he planned on surviving out here. He had a flask and a few reserves but as far as those reserves went, they wouldn't last forever. Maybe that was it, maybe he just wanted to get out here and get more liquor or booze.

Joe was our builder, hell, he practically put my tent up single handedly. Him and... Pat... At this point in my life, Pat was just a skinny girl, who barely caught my eye. Don't worry though, Patricia will play an important role in what's to come...

We wandered in from the west, stepping into the town of the Gecko trappers, Klameth. I wish that they could have seen Shady Sands first, because this place was boring as hell. I didn't want them to think that their own lives would be so meaningless.

However, to my surprise, they were dumbfounded, it was difficult to say who was more freaked out by our arrival, us or them. Either way, we attracted many eyes as we wandered through this town. Being in bright blue jumpsuits has that effect on people...

I figured I'd look for a trader first, maybe I could get their caravan to drop some supplies off at Arroyo. I just had to be careful and so did my friends...

We found a small shack, where a trader dwelled, he was... kind of old, grouchy and constantly chewing some oily tobacco in his mouth. As we walked in, he spat it across the room before leaning forward, resting on his arms and looking up to Alison with dreamy eyes.

"What can I do ye for, darlin?" I was the most prominent member of the group and I was about to mention that but Alison stepped in. She took a step closer to his counter, taking it... rather well. Even my skin was crawling... like I was back in the Master's chambers again.

"You can show me what you have in stock... If I like it, I may take this conversation elsewhere." She said, getting the tired old man to widen his eyes.

"S-Sure... I... I gots lots of stuff for ye, just... take a look."

I examined his collection of garbage with keen interest. You see... in my situation, garbage could be made anew. An alarm clock had new value, a broken rake had new value.

I managed to find two shovels, I also got some Xander Root as well. If we couldn't use it in Alison's experiments, we could eat it. It wasn't much but... better than nothing.

I also got a few combat knives, I was hoping that maybe we could strap them to some broom handles and make some spears out of them. Well, until we found something sturdier to use as a spear shaft that is...

"Now... I was wondering if you'd be willing to come over some time, say... once a month?" Alison suggested, resting both of her arms on the table and giving him a slight smile.

"We could use supplies and I'd appreciate having a... handsome visitor like you drop by once a month."

The man slowly rose upwards, straightening his back, he scratched furiously at the stubble on his chin.

"I... Aye, yeah, that's... grand, I'll erm... I'll come by once a month, like you said. I'll... Even get some food and water stocked up if ye like, y'know? Figured you folks might need it, if you're living outta town."

"Yeah, that would be good... Here..." I said, passing him a rough map of where we were.

"We're directly east, just over a gulch, can't miss us."

"Heh... Trust me lady, I wouldn't miss y'all for the world." he giggled, almost madly as he dragged his bottlecaps across the table and shoved them into the pocket on his overalls.

"G-G'bye! S'hee you soon!" He called after us, waving like Olive Oil, practically cooing after Dr Kraus.

"Well... That worked out nicely." Rick said, looking back over his shoulder and wincing. I didn't exactly concur, sure, Dr Kraus meant well and she wasn't exactly stupid but... a guy like him will probably be expecting her to pay up. He'd probably be more trouble than he's worth, may have to shoot him if he gets too... creepy with her.

"Well, figured I'd make it worth the trip. He's lonely... Doubt you could've gotten him to come out there any other way." She sighed, looking back over her shoulder.

"Heh... He your new squeeze Doc?" The Red Haired security guard asked with a smirk, getting the Doctor to glance over to him and wrinkle her nose in disgust.

"Fuck no, he's vile! It's like a radroach has taken human form!"

Rick lost it at that, he burst into a small giggling fit and went bright red in the face, I found it a little funny but... didn't laugh as much back then.

I... Don't laugh today really.

"What? Did you smell him? It smelled like he bathed in a concoction of his own piss and some booze!"

"Pfft... Sister, I hate to break it to you but it wasn't **his** piss that he was bathing in." Rick jeered before cackling to himself, getting the Doctor to wrinkle her nose again in disgust.

"Urgh... I need a drink!" Joe called out, like a child announcing that he was hungry.

"I concur..." I said, hesitantly.

"Leather armour and 90 degree temperatures do **not** mix!"

This is a sentiment that I... haven't really lost over the years...

We walked past a group of children, playing in the street. They were wearing what few shreds of clothing that they had left to keep, the few shreds of dignity that their lives had allowed. I didn't look at them but it was obvious that the others did and then immediately regretted it.

Alison's smile soon faded as she looked ahead, she felt something force its way into her hand.

She looked down to her right, seeing a small child, a young girl... indian descent, looking up at her with her hand interlocked with her's. She seemed to be almost puzzled at the fact that Alison was effectively disowning her. They were hand in hand now, surely that meant that they were family...

"N-No..." Alison said, nervously, letting go of the girl and leaving her behind, walking on a few steps but the girl was persistent.

Alison felt the child's hand slip into her own, this girl was smart for a seven year old... I had to give her that... Though I wasn't about to give her a bed and my food for nothing.

She couldn't even speak, nobody had bothered to teach her. She couldn't speak, couldn't read... probably couldn't even understand a concept as basic as not shitting on the ground.

After hearing Alison say 'no' for the third time, I drew my .223 pistol and pointed it at the girl, a... decision that didn't go down well with anyone in my group. In hindsight, I'm glad that it didn't...

Alison immediately stepped in-between us, gasping quickly as she saw me wrap my finger around the trigger.

"Sylar, no!" She snapped,well, I'd say that she gasped... she sounded both angry and shocked at the same time. I was never good with words but I was always good at telling how people were feeling. It was a valuable gift for a lawman as I knew what the situation was...

Alison panted heavily as she stared me down, her blue eyes remained fixated on me until I lowered my gun...

She was willing to stare down the barrel of that thing, for the life of a girl that she didn't even know... It was baffling to say the least but... that was Alison.

The girl ran off, she darted as soon as her human shield had made a big enough shroud. She sprinted into the nearest alleyway and was moving so fast that it wasn't even worth going after her. It's not like my slow, heavily burdened ass could keep up...

"Great..." I sighed, lowering my gun.

"Whatever you had in your lab coat pockets is now gone..." I informed her as I put my gun back in its holster.

"Hope it was worth it..."

Alison immediately placed her hands inside them, gasping as she did so. She felt around before sighing heavily and hanging her head.

"Shit..." She grumbled, looking up to me with a saddened glance that turned into an enraged glare.

"What the fuck was that, Sylar!? A kid comes up to me and takes my hand, so you draw on her?"

"That's how it is out here..."

"No, that's how it is with you! That child wasn't armed, she wasn't with anyone..."

"She was a thief, a con artist..." Rick pointed out, gesturing to the Doctor's pockets.

"Sylar's smart enough to know that... Smart doesn't always mean nice, Ali, it means being aware of your situation and being able to do something about it. Whether it's nice or not..."

"Okay, so... next time I see a kid, I'll just shoot first and ask questions later, right?" Alison growled, finding our lack of humanity somewhat disturbing.

"Alison, knock it off..." Rick sighed, scratching his head.

"It was just a bluff, Sylar wouldn't have shot her.

Right man?" He asked, turning to me, hopeful eyes meeting my dull eyes of acceptance. I couldn't even lie, I could've... would've if I was alone.

Today? I'm not so sure... Probably not, I've killed kids before and I wouldn't be afraid to do it again but I'd prefer not to...

I said nothing and stepped inside the bar, hanging my head with a heavy sigh. Every eye in the room fell upon us as we entered, curse Vault Tec and their suits. I tried not to eye anyone as we sailed through, the others weren't as smart and it earned them a few funny looks. I made my way over to the tavern and placed my order, didn't want anyone too drunk, least of all Joe.

I ordered a drink for me and my people, I ordered five drinks, which got a look of confusion as there was only four of us... I looked around and saw Rick, Joe and Ray but Alison was nowhere to be found.

I sighed heavily and shook my head, throwing my caps onto the counter as I marched on over to the front door.

"Just stay there!" I snapped at them, I was already sick of them wandering off. It made me long for the days when I travelled with Ian, Tycho, Katja and Dogmeat... Shame that both Ian and Dogmeat were dead and that Katja was way down in the Boneyard... Not sure about Tycho.

The point is that they knew how to handle themselves out here. They understood basic concepts, such as not wandering off.

Mind you, they'd lived out here their whole lives...

I stepped into the alleyway, where that girl had run off to. I figured that that would be the only thing she'd break ranks for.

I followed my trail, speculation alone guided me into an alleyway. We were fortunate that this happened in Klamath as in the Den or the Hub, she would be naked and dead in that alleyway, throat slit...

But here she was fending off a small, feral, dog. It bit furiously at her arm, looking like it was trying to pull it off. Without any hesitation I put a .223 round into it, which seemed to be enough to put it out of its misery as it flew up the street with a yelp.

Alison stumbled back and fell against the wall, clutching at her arm as blood began to leak through and stain her white coat as she slowly slid down into a sitting position. She grimaced, letting out a few tears in reaction to the pain before looking up to me.

"H-Help..." She muttered, clearly too shocked to say much else. She probably needed stimpaks and that kid ran off with them. It made me just despair at how much easier it would be if I had just shot the little shit, though maybe drawing my gun was the cause of this mess. To be honest, I don't give a shit. Second guessing myself isn't going to get me or anyone else anywhere...

I sighed heavily and pulled her to her feet, I told her to go back to the tavern, figured that nothing was wrong with her legs and that time was wasting. I needed those stimpaks...

I stepped deeper into the alley, hand hovering over my gun, fingers rhythmically dancing on the grip as I wandered through the dark streets, looking for any semblance of an orange glow. Orange meant fire, fire meant desperation and desperation meant life...

It didn't take me long to find it, way out on the outskirts of the town. I could see the glow, gently pulsing on the hillside and immediately knew that the girl would be near it. It was cold at night, I knew that better than anyone. A child her age would need to be around a heat source and most importantly, people.

As I approached I heard a faint moan, pained and drawn out. There was only one thing that would make someone cry out like that and that was labour. This got me to pick up the pace until the group of vagrants were in my line of sight and there I could see them, a middle aged, incredibly dirty woman was lay at the center of camp with several people hovering around her. One of the stimpaks lay on the ground, beside her as did the empty casing of another one.

The empty one hadn't been used, not properly anyway. It had been violently smashed open and the red juices inside it had been poured out. Christ knows how they missed the large needle on the end or maybe they were trying to make super stimpaks? Who knew... either way, they were fucking idiots and that woman was probably going to die, along with her baby.

I stepped into the scene, immediately finding myself greeted with a wall of pitchforks, incredibly badly made spears and a gun that clearly wasn't loaded. It didn't even have a magazine in it, these people were well and truly moronic...

"Be gone!" One of them growled, the one with the gun. He stepped forward and thrust it at me as if it could be any more intimidating. What was he going to do, throw it at me?

"Cut the shit, that thing isn't even loaded... and the safety's on. Look, I can help you, lower your weapons and return that stimpak to me and I'll make sure that that woman pulls through."

"Don't trust!" The pitchfork yelled as the 10mm pistol was dropped with a heavy sigh, realising that he was useless.

"Well she's going to die either way. Stimpak won't help her or her baby! If anything it could make it worse!

I have a doctor. The woman you stole those stimpaks from? She needs them to heal her arm, that's what they're for! You give me that stimpak, I take it back to her, she heals herself and we come back and help any way we can."

This got them to consider my offer, they looked to one another, looking somewhat nervous as they did so...

"Look, I know it's not much of a choice but do you think that one Stimpak will make a difference here? I'm offering a doctor! If I come back with one, your problem might be over!

If I don't? Then all you've lost out on is a stimpak, a stimpak that you don't even know how to use! That last one was wasted! Do you think that you can really lose out here?"

The vagrants looked to one another, they looked so confused, helpless and... lost...

It almost made me forget the fact that they'd tried to fuck me over twice now. To my surprise, the Indian girl stepped out of the shadows. She looked at me timidly as she approached the woman giving birth and whispered something to her, I could've sworn that I heard the word 'Mamma' in her mumblings and I'm still sure that I did. She picked up the stimpak. and wandered over to me, holding the large syringe out so that I may take it.

I nodded and relieved her of it before nodding to the other vagrants, time was of the essence, so I made a break for it.

Whilst I was gone, Rick and the others had been sat around a table, slowly making their way through their drinks. Well, except for Joe, who had already knocked his back like a shot. Rick was the designated deputy now, who else was it going to be? Ray or Joe? Alison was injured and barely knew where she was.

He constantly found himself looking over to Alison, fretting over her injuries. She looked ill, incredibly pale from the loss of blood. Once again they found themselves praying for me to come back and when you're asking your imaginary friend for help? Then you know that you're not very good at handling yourself out here.

"How're you feeling, Alison?" He asked, hoping to keep her talking to prevent her from passing out.

She grimaced and glanced up at him with a sigh.

"Hurts like hell... I was fuckin' stupid, Rick. That dog could've had a disease or something..."

"Bah... They rarely do." Rick shrugged, though he didn't know that for sure.

"It's always the thing that you don't think of at all that gets you, right?" He pointed out, with a soft smile as Alison rolled her sleeve back. The wound was rather nasty, several small but deep puncture marks were scattered across her wrist.

"Jesus Ali..." Ray uttered, scratching his face.

"How did that even happen anyway? You put your arm in it's mouth?" He asked, getting a glare from her.

"Yeah Ray, that's what I did! I saw the dog there and thought 'gee, shit, that dog could do with a chew toy!'" She growled, bending over and grimacing as she examined it.

"Got anything to dress it with?" She mumbled, glancing around.

Both Rick and Joe looked to one another as Ray reached into his back pocket, pulling out a bandanna.

"Here..." He uttered, tossing it across, it was a red neckerchief with a black flower pattern, it looked a little grubby but it was better than nothing. Alison gave him an appreciative nod before wrapping it around her arm.

"Dog jumped me... It was rummaging through the garbage and I didn't see it. It was dark... Then I heard it and... I turned and it had my arm in its jaws." She admitted, with a heavy sigh as she rested her arm on the table, yelping a little as one of the bite marks came into contact with the table.

"Argh, Jesus!" She growled, clutching it and hanging her head, oblivious to the fact that someone had risen to their feet and was slowly marching over to them.

"Don't worry Ali, Sylar will be back in a bit..."

"I'm just a little worried, you saw what he did earlier... You don't think he'd take it by force, do you?"

"Oi!" The Leather Clad man growled, placing his hand on Alison's shoulder.

"Some of us are tryin' to enjoy our drink in peace!" He growled, leaning over.

"Your constant moaning and whining is gettin' on my tits lady!"

This got Alison to cry out again, movement caused the wound to drag across the table and considering how sensitive it was, this hurt like hell. Rick was quickly to jump to his feet and wandered around Alison's chair, he immediately raised his hand and decked the leather-clad man in the face, causing him to stumble back.

"Argh, you **fuck!** " He growled, clutching his cheek, which was now bruised as Rick had one hell of a right hook.

The man had half of his head shaved and several scars around his forehead and eye. One of them looked like it was a close call to losing the eyeball...

He shook his head furiously before lunging forward and grappling with Rick, gut punching him, only to realise that the vest that the Vault Dweller was wearing wasn't just for show as it absorbed most of the blow. Even so, it was a pretty strong punch and Rick ended up staggering off to the side.

"Stop!" Alison insisted as Rick slowly pulled himself to his feet and turned back to his opponent, quickly driving his fist upwards and hitting the Raider in the chin, causing his head to fly back and for one of his rotten teeth to shoot up into the air as he stumbled back and a river of blood cascaded from his lips.

He furiously shook his head, hanging it as a long spittle of blood slowly lowered, like a rope to the ground. He panted heavily, looking up to the Security officer, with a new look in his evil eye.

"That was a **fucking** tooth! Big mistake Vault boy!" He growled, quickly turning to face him.

As this happened, I had just returned. I stepped into the door and drew my gun and a loud bang emitted. The Raider was shot in the neck. He staggered around, from side to side as blood spurted out, all over Alison's back and along the floorboards. After a few moments of hiccuping and choking, he fell to the floor and collapsed into a heap on the ground, choking heavily and convulsing as the pool on the floor grew bigger and bigger, until eventually it stopped, along with his movements.

"Everyone okay?" I asked, obviously I'd seen this shit before... dozens of times. It was Wednesday to me. The others were a little shaken to say the least, I have to say, for a first death it was a little gruesome but they'd have to get used to that if they wanted to survive.

"Alison!?" I snapped, wanting a response, quickly.

"Fine, I'm... You didn't have to kill him!" She growled, looking back at me and fixing her furious, tear stained eyes on me.

"No?" I asked, kicking the corpse over. His arm rolled out, landing inches away from Alison's chair leg with a knife loosely sliding out of the hand as he came to a stop.

"Because it looked like life or death to me..."

"Shit..." Rick uttered, stepping out of the blood pool.

"I didn't even see that! Thanks man!"

I just nodded, thank a man for doing his job and it'll go to his head...

"Give me your arm Alison."

The Doctor sighed and rose to her feet as I drew the stimpak, she glanced down to it before looking back at me and within seconds its red fluids were injected into her. The wound quickly healed up to become a faint mark and colour had returned to her face.

"Th-Thanks..." She gasped as she felt herself regenerate.

"But... What about the girl? You didn't...?"

"No but I made a deal and I need you to come with me. All of you." I informed them, turning back and drawing a small bag of caps as the bartender approached me, I figured he'd want compensation and I didn't want to be making enemies out of honest folk right now.

"Sorry about the bar, I hope this... Will re-enforce my apology." I said, choosing my words carefully as the bartender took the small purse.

"You've taken a shit with our clothes on..." He muttered, fingering the bag to do a quick count.

"That man... He was one of Diego's boys. You'd better leave, **now.** "

'Diego,' I think it was Diego... Hell, he could've said 'Clive' or 'Louis' for all I give a shit. Either way, the name meant nothing. After facing down the Khans and reducing them to paste? Raiders stop being a threat a long time ago...

"Thanks for the advice..." I muttered, doing my best to sound appreciative but in truth, it was like telling me to mind my head in a small tunnel...

I stepped outside, ready to to break the news to Alison and hopefully uphold my end of the bargain...


	2. 2: How it was and how it had to be

"It's okay, push!" Alison instructed, prompting the vagabond woman to cringe and growl a little before crying out in pain. I wandered the outskirts of the camp, doing my best not to think about it. Child birth, famine of this magnitude… It was new territory to me. Territory that I didn't really want to explore…

"Argh! I c-can't!"

"The baby is coming out the wrong way, it's a Breech, Laura…" She paused, sighing heavily as she stepped back.

"Greg, was it? Could you look after her? I need to speak to my companion…" By 'companion' I had assumed that she meant me, somehow I got the impression that I wouldn't like what I was hearing.

'Greg' nodded and approached Laura's side, kneeling down and taking hold of her hand as Alison approached me with a concerned look on her face. She sighed, heavily as she reached got within arm's reach, forcing me to turn away and walk, until we were out of earshot.

"Sylar… She needs medical attention. Medical attention that's better than three stimpaks. She needs to come back to our village, so that I can-"

"No, absolutely not." I said, as I didn't have the resources to waste on random strangers, least of all stupid vagrants that got knocked up with no way of dealing with complications.

"She is going to have to make do, we need the medicine for our own people."

"Sylar, these people could **become** our people! Thye have experience from the outside. Greg, for example, he used to repair toasters for a living."

I wondered if she was serious or if she'd actually lost it. What good was a toaster repairman to us? What good were any of these people to us?

"Toasters?"

"Yeah! I know that it's a strange niche but… Think about it, he can repair stuff Sylar."

"That would be handy if we had bread to toast…" I pointed out, folding my arms and glaring at her.

"These people are the very definition of dead weight. **If** you can't save her, then make sure that you ease their suffering. If you can't do either, then we're out of here." I whispered, glancing over to them. I know that people have often accused me of being unfeeling and uncaring and that just wasn't true. I do care, just not about every Wastelander I come across. Some people have to be put before others, you can't please everyone and if you try to then you'll end up alone or dead or worse… Believe me, I know…

Alison nodded before looking back to the vagrants, she took a longing gaze at them, leaving us both in silence… I began to wonder I she just wanted to leave, to get away from the tragedy of it all and go home.

"We can just leave if you like." I suggested to her, getting an angry glare in response.

"Oh, you'd just love that wouldn't you? To just abandon them! It's bad enough that you condemned them but you aren't even going to stick around to watch the consequences of your actions unfold? You're something else, you know that!?"

I remained silent, she had a fair point, of course, I wasn't really asking for my benefit as I gladly told her.

"I was thinking more of you. If you want to leave, then we can. "

"Don't worry… Unlike you? I can look people in the eye as I fuck them over." She said, bitterly as she marched away, leaving me to it. Not that I minded, it was only natural to blame the guy who was conservative with the supplies. We just weren't in a position where we could be charitable, where we could let people like that girl walk all over us. Everyone had an angle, no one was innocent. We were all survivors in this desert.

I drew my Vault 13 Canteen from my waist and took a sip from it, looking out onto the horizon as someone stepped up behind me. The foot steps plodded along, leading me to believe that it was Ray, prompting me to look over my shoulder.

"Ray."

"Sylar…"

We paused again as we tried to ignore the screams of the expecting mother, it was strange to have to ignore the screams of someone giving birth as opposed to ending someone's life. Neither of them were particularly pleasant to hear but at least this was leading to something good… Well, it would be, if she had the means to keep the baby alive.

"Women eh?" Ray said, shuffling in beside me and getting my attention. I always fucking hated it when people said that, it came from the primitive mind-set that women could only have real feelings whilst they were on their periods. One good thing that could have come from the war was everyone who thought like that being vaporized in the blink of an eye. Sadly, it just encouraged such moronic thought…

"She has a right to be pissed off… I just condemned that woman to death." I said, bitterly, I wasn't afraid to show how disgusted I was with him and the situation I'd been put in.

"Oh… You ain't going to help her?"

"No, we can't help her…"

"Push Laura!" Alison cried out, readying her hands to accept the baby, prompting me to look over my shoulder, with a sigh.

"We'd lose all of our supplies if we helped her, it's not an option."

"Yeah… I mean, she would've died anyway without us, right? Hell, there are probably dozens of women out there going through the exact same thing right now."

"Exactly, it's an uphill battle, not all of these people can be saved. But we can save ourselves, that's how it has to be."

"Nah man, that's the way it is. It don't have to be like that…" Ray pointed out, with a heavy sigh, stepping forward and staring out into the dark, watching the orange flickers coming from the tavern.

"That guy you killed… You think his buddies will come after us?" Ray asked, getting my attention. In truth, I didn't, people were too worried about these things happening to care about **why** or **how** they happened and Raiders were one step up from feral ghouls, they just moved on, barely even noticing when their own got capped. Of course, there were also gangs like the Khans, Khans liked to make examples of people but they weren't going to go to much trouble for the sake of one man.

I was mistaken…

I was mistaken about a lot that night but the one thing that I was glad to be mistaken about was the baby. It was then that I heard the screams of the newborn, both Ray and I turned back to see Alison slowly pull the baby from the ground, slowly pulling it closer to her, examining it. The two of us broke away from our spot in the corner, not exactly sure what we should expect as we approached Alison from behind. We peered over her shoulder and saw the baby boy, crying loudly. I hadn't seen a newborn before, something that quickly changed as I became the tribe's leader and everyone brought their purple mutie-like babies to me for blessing.

Both Ray and Rick knelt down by Alison's side, fussing over the child as I backed away, nobody else had noticed or bothered to check on Laura. I hadn't even thought of it, until my gaze fell upon her. The woman lay limp before them, stomach sliced open, soaking in her own blood. I glared at the body, feeling my finger tips go numb as vomit pooled in the back of my throat. She had been gutted…

I looked down to Alison, who was already looking to me with teary eyes. Her lips twitched as she tried to control herself and stop herself from crying…

"Oh Christ!" Ray gasped, finally catching up as Alison rose to her feet, leaving the baby in Rick's arms as she stepped away, taking off her gloves and rubbing her face.

"I had to… They both would have died… Had to save the baby…"

"It was a good call." I assured her, it was, if it meant the survival of one condemned party it was still better than none.

"I asked her…" Alison whispered, swallowing hard as she looked back over Laura's body, sighing heavily as she turned her attention back to me.

"She agreed that it was the right thing to do… I stabbed her in the head before doing it as well, she didn't feel a thing…"

I placed my hand on the Doctor's shoulder, hoping to calm her down as she was now choking on her own words. I'm not surprised, killing someone in such a way was… horrific, no matter the cause.

"It's okay, it's okay… This… Turned out better than anyone could've expected, given the situation. You were a miracle, Alison."

"Pfft… 'Miracle'…"

"Well, you are… These people had no hope, I gave up on them and yet you were able to save that baby's life."

"What about the baby?" Alison asked, glancing back up to me.

"Laura said that she didn't know who the Father was and he's either dead or not in a fit state to look after him."

I sighed heavily, looking over to the other vagrants. That baby would be dead in a week with them…

"We could take the baby, I guess… It'd have a better chance with us, better than it would with them at least."

"Yeah, I… I'm glad you agree." Alison nodded before looking over to the vagrants.

"Look… I know that you said 'no' before but… Is there any way that I can convince you that these people can be of use to us? I mean, they know things that we might not have thought of…"

"Excuse me?" Greg asked, it was at this point that I had my first proper look at him, a scruffy, jacket covering a grubby vest and torn cotton trousers that had a knee missing. He stood before me, gazing at me with his worn out old eyes, which stood parallel to the lines of hair that ringed around his balding head.

"Hmm?"

"I heard you were founding a settlement?"

I looked to Alison, prompting her to nod with a smile as she urged me to hear him out, I sighed heavily and looked back over to the old man.

"You heard right…"

"Well…" Greg began, tugging at his jacket.

"My group and I may not look like much but I assure you that we can and **will** pull our weight. Vicky knows her pharmaceuticals, she could brew you anything provided you got her the right materials. Then there's me, I'm good at tinkering and then there's Reginald, he's… Well, he's an ex caravan guard, not a bad shot with a rifle, when he's sober.

And little Di is **great** at sneaking around town, so long as you don't mind her ethically questionable results."

"You have that little girl steal things for you?" I asked, furrowing my brow, I would say that I was borderline disgusted.

"What? Hell no, she does it on her own. Keeps her and her mother alive." Greg explained, looking back over his shoulder.

"Where is Di?" Alison cut in, making me realise that we hadn't actually addressed that just yet. Someone would have to break the news to Di that she was now an orphan and we'd also have to bury Laura's body if we wanted to avoid scarring her for life…

"She's off with Vicky, I sent Reginald to tell Vicky and Vicky should be able to break it to her."

"Is Vicky her… Well, related to her in any way?"

"What? Vick? God no, she's just the only one of us that Diana would level with. She's not exactly a good influence on the kid but I won't deny that she hears her out.

The kid respects her, y'know? Hell, she's the closest thing she has to a friend, which is why I'm not liking her recent psycho habbit."

"Great, a drug addict baby sitter." I sighed, rolling my eyes. Needless to say, Alison glared at me but I didn't care, she was trying to sell these people as good, contributing citizens and what were they? Old farts who's skillset would've been classed as 'useless' before the bombs fell, losers, drug addicts and orphan children who happened to be kleptomaniacs. At least the baby could be raised as one of our own but these people?

They were a rogue element…

"Please, I know how it sounds but… It works. Fact is, you people are going to need numbers to hold off your threats." Greg assured me, like I was a fucking idiot and didn't already know that.

"We have numbers." I said, sternly, he'd have to sell himself better than that. 'You should take us in, because we exist' isn't a good enough reason for me…

"That's the thing about numbers, Son, you can never have too many. You might have a lot of strong, capable men and women now but what happens if you need to show a few raiders what happens when they mess with you? Who's going to stay behind and keep the radscorpions at bay?" Greg asked, he'd convinced Alison and the others but not me just yet.

" **You** could do that?" I asked, looking him up and down, a stinger of a radscorpion would go right through his fat gut, like a pin cushion.

"Not me personally, I'd be tending the crops whilst Reginald, Vick and Di took them out."

"The little girl?"

"Well, in a few years I'm talking. You… **Are** planning on living that long, right?"

"Yes, which is why I'm going to have to decline your offer." I quipped, getting Greg to shake his head and step forward.

"Now you listen to me, I know what we look like to you. I ain't stupid and you ain't either but we can work your fields, man, I can repair your well! You don't need us, that much is obvious but you can **use** us." He said, sounding desperate now, prompting me to pause and think. He was right in that respect. I mean, if they were shit at their jobs, we could always exile them or something. Might not seem very humane but them's the brakes…

"Alright… We'll trial you for a week." I sighed, growing sick of this debate already, this got a mix between relief and triumph out of Greg as he did a faint fist pump, though I wasn't in the mood to celebrate just yet.

"But if you even attempt to put me or my people in any danger, if I even get the suspicion that you're trying to fuck me and mine over?" I stepped up close to the old man, I wasn't really much taller than him but that was okay, it meant that I could stare into his eyes, meaningfully.

"I will shoot you and leave your dying body out in the fields to be eaten by the crows, do you understand?" I glared at him, noticing his skin go a little paler, it might not have been the greatest threat but that didn't bother me too much, because he knew that I meant every word of it. I did as well, of course I forgot to mention how I'd break both of his fucking legs before shooting him but I figured that I'd save that for later in case I need to make myself clear.

Greg nodded, holding up his hand for me to shake, sealing the deal...

"Don't worry about us, we'll be assets, any of us break the rules and you can kick 'em out on their asses. I won't say anythin' about it."

I met his hand with mine and gave it a firm shake, keeping my gaze fixated on his eyes the whole time as I lowered my arm.

"Good…" I said, taking a step back.

"Now… We're going to have to bury Laura…"

"Please, I know that this is already asking a lot but we have a trailer thing for carrying supplies, can we carry Laura back to your village and bury her there? She was all that Diana had… I think she deserves for her Mom to be buried at her new home, don't you?"

I glanced over to Alison but I knew what her response would be…

"Go ahead but we're sticking to a tight schedule. You fall behind? You stay behind, got it?"

Greg reluctantly nodded, looking back it wasn't exactly fair, hell it wasn't at all but remember, I wasn't exactly at a good place in my life at the time. Ray was right, this was how it was, not how it had to be…


End file.
